Items for the week of Sunday, June 7th

This past Sunday, June 7^th, was the 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost

We heard the following scripture readings, introduction, and prayer of the day during the Sunday morning worship service:

Introduction

Though Jesus was a devout Jew who practiced his faith, he was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners—the religiously nonobservant. Jesus criticizes the self-righteous and reminds us that mercy is to be at the heart of our religious practices. God continues to be made known in those on the margins of society, like Matthew the tax collector and the hemorrhaging woman. As we gather each Lord’s day we receive the healing that makes us well and sends us forth to be signs of God’s mercy for the world.

Prayer of Day

O God, you are the source of life and the ground of our being. By the power of your Spirit bring healing to this wounded world, and raise us to the new life of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Scripture

Hosea 5:15 — 6:6 God desires steadfast love

Psalm 50:7-15 Call upon me in the day of trouble, says your God. (Ps. 50:15)

Romans 4:13-25 The promise to those who share Abraham’s faith

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 Christ heals a woman and raises a synagogue leader’s daughter

Devotion for the Week

To Be Well

The fourteenth-century mystic Julian of Norwich is famous for writing about a vision of Jesus assuring her that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Jesus, in today’s reading, is deeply concerned with the matter of wellness. He uses a metaphor of illness and wellness to defend his decision to keep fellowship with those whom society has rejected, despised, or cast out. Just a few verses later, Jesus performs two intertwined acts of healing, saying to one of the individuals, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22).

Wellness, for Jesus, is a holistic endeavor. Physical health is one part of the equation, but so are spiritual wholeness, mental and emotional well-being, financial stability, and health in relationships and society. Jesus does not limit his work to any one of these areas. Consistently in the gospels, Jesus is concerned with all aspects of life. He recognizes and works to dismantle all kinds of barriers to full, whole, peaceful living.

Too often, our contemporary society exploits the idea of wellness to sell us a product, to market an unattainable lifestyle, or to guilt us into a particular set of behaviors. Jesus, however, is not trying to sell us something. Jesus invokes wellness as a way of assuring us that he cares deeply about our whole being, and that every part of us is worthy of God’s care and keeping. Jesus desires that we be at peace in our bodies, minds, spirits, and relationships.

When our world and our lives are difficult and painful, we can turn again and again to scripture, which witnesses to Jesus’ deep compassion, empathy, and care for us. He is a living sign of God’s power to comfort and heal. He is our living sign and symbol of resurrection and restoration. He is the embodiment of our divine assurance that all manner of things will, one day, be well, and whole, and at peace.